March 2016 Outlook

To Belove
Dear UUMC friends,
March 6
Holy Communion
Mark 12:28-44
Shifting the Frame: Speaking
Up for the Pharisees
With Rabbi Joshua LevineGrater
March 13
Mark 13:1-8, 24- 37
Daylight Savings Begins
March 20
Palm Sunday
Featuring choir anthems &
selections from the
groundbreaking movie
Cast the First Stone
March 27
Easter!
A Combined Celebration with
our Irvine Dream Congregation
and our Nozomi Congregation
Coming Up
April 10
Early Morning Beach Baptism
of Nathalie Gubelmann &
Preschool Sunday!
“The first four books of the New Testament tell the story of how Jesus lived, died and
then was raised from the dead.” As I said the words before a mostly Hindu audience at
the Chinmaya Mission interfaith event, I realized anew our astounding theological claim.
How must it sound to those of a different tradition? Do we sound profound or just profoundly strange?
As our members in the Christian Believer class know, we have spent centuries examining
our own faith claim. It is like a diamond that we hold up to the light, turning it around,
admiring its perfection, looking for its flaws, and seeing how the light is reflected just a
little differently through each facet. Over the last hundred years, theologians have struggled to articulate the various lenses through which humans experience the death and
resurrection of Christ. Our astounding faith claim is so compelling that peoples of all nations, tribes, and languages want an authentic part of it. No one wants to be left out.
The Latin word for “I believe” is credo, which can also be translated as “I belove” or “I
give my heart to.” Humans do not lift up the diamond of our profound faith claim because we need to work out the exact language of a contract that we can sign onto. We
aren’t negotiating a deal with God. And anyway, as Marcus Borg writes, “’believing the
right things’ does not intrinsically lead to a changed life. It is possible to have stronglyheld beliefs, even more or less right beliefs, and still be unchanged: fearful, selfpreoccupied and self-concerned, angry, judgmental, mean, even brutal and violent. Christian history and the history of other religions are filled with examples. Believing has little
transformative power.”
But beloving – ah, that is different altogether. When we give our hearts to the event of
Jesus the Christ, and our lives are changed to incarnate our best expression of God’s
compassion and justice, and when the world begins to transform with that love – that is
when our profoundly strange faith claims become compelling to others.
During Lent and Easter, you are invited to believe an incredible story, not so that you can
argue for Christ, but so that you can give your heart to him.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Paige Eaves
First Look
Introducing Our Office Administrator & Director of
Young People's Ministries: Andrew Ponder Williams
We are delighted to announce that Andrew will be adding Young People's Ministries to his
portfolio at UUMC. This makes his position with us full-time. We will benefit from this allaround investment of his time, energy, and creativity.
The parents who interviewed Andrew are enthusiastic about his experiences in bringing
young people together for worship and service; his commitment to helping families transition well into the teen years; and his knowledge and passion for using our UMC connectional
resources to strengthen our local ministry.
Andrew also has a heart for young adults like himself who love Jesus and seek those rare, safe places for spiritual
nurture. He will continue our College Persistence Program and nurture ministries for our young adults.
With the hiring of Andrew, we re-commit ourselves as a church to the spiritual health of our young people. He will
need a team of volunteers to re-build our program. Consider your calling to this ministry.
Andrew will transition from his current youth ministry job at Huntington Beach UMC and begin full-time with us on
March 7. We will introduce him in worship on Sunday, March 13.
Belong-Ministries that nurture a sense of belonging to God and to this faith community
Sisters Book Group
The Sisters meeting March 23 was a good one! We were
able to talk to the author of China Dolls, Lisa See, by Skype.
She was wonderful—gracious, funny and informative. Our
usual Sisters group was joined by some guests, our founder, Cindy Williams, and two other ladies from the Newport
Methodist church. They just wanted to hear Lisa too. We
all had a wonderful evening. Many thanks to Dale McCart
and Mandy He whose technical expertise made this all
happen and to Tonya Carrasco, Mickey Chase and Joy
Corkery for their delicious dessert and drinks.
The next Sisters meeting will be March 22nd at the home of
Carol Pukli (714-731-0258).
We will be discussing The Perfume Collector by Kathleen
Tessaro. Don’t miss out on all the fun—join us for a
meeting of fellowship, reflection, and dessert!
See you at Sisters!
March 2016
Sun
Mon
Tue
1
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
2
3
4
5
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
Quilters
9a, FH
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Lenten Dinner
6:00p, FH
Trustees 7p, Ed-D
Choir, 7:30p
6 Worship, 9:30a
7
8
9
10
11
12
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Kid Jam 9:30a, Ed
Korean Dream 9:30a
Heart to Heart
9:15a, FH
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
Blood Pressure Check
10:30a
ReJoySing, 7p
SPRC, 7p, Ed-D
B. Scouts, 7p, FH
Noiseful Joy 10:30a
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Lenten Dinner
6:00p, FH
Pride Day!!
9a, All Campus
Messy Church
Planning, 1p, Ed-B
Quilters
9a, FH
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Choir, 7:30p
Nozomi 12:30p, Ed-A
4th Sunday in Lent
13
Worship, 9:30a
14
15
16
17
18
19
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Kid Jam, 9:30a, Ed
ReJoySing, 7p
Noiseful Joy, 10:30a
B. Scouts, 7p, FH
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Korean Dream, 9:30a
Daylight Savings!!
El Nino Trip
7a, Irvine Pres
Sandwich Ministry
4:30p, FH
Lenten Supper
6p, FH
Safe Sanctuaries
Nozomi, 12:30p, Ed-A
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Child’s World B., 7p
5th Sunday in Lent
20
Worship, 9:30a
Kid Jam, 9:30a, Ed
21
22
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
Noiseful Joy, 10:30
Nozomi, 12:30p, Ed-A
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
ReJoySing, 7p
Sack Lunch M., 4p
Palm Sunday
Choir, 7:30p
B. Scouts, 7p, FH
29
28
25
26
CWS Chapel, 10:30
Stations of the Cross
12-7p, Sanc
Scouts Training
6p, FH
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Contemplative Worship
7p, Sanc
CWS Chapel, 10:30
Lenten Supper
6p, FH
27
24
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Heart to Heart
9:15a, FH
Korean Dream, 9:30a
23
30
Messy Church
5:30p
Good Friday
31
Worship, 9:30a
Kid Jam, 9:30a, Ed
Noiseful Joy, 10:30
ReJoySing, 7p
Disciple II
10:30a, Ed-A
B. Scouts, 7p, FH
Korean Dream, 9:30a
Nozomi, 12:30p, Ed-A
EASTER
Devotion, 7:30, CoW
Lunch Bunch
11:30p, Ed-D
Christian Believer
1:30p, Ed-B
Choir, 7:30p
Preschool Closed
Preschool Closed
Preschool Closed
Preschool Closed
9a-
Easter Lilly Delivery
10a, Sanc
Stephen Ministry
Compassionate, trustworthy, full of faith, skilled-these adjectives make up the Stephen
Ministry’s Caregiving Compass. We use this compass to guide our high quality care for
hurting people. As our congregation builds a Stephen Ministry of our own we are asking
you to consider these adjectives and whether they apply to you. A link to an application is
available below if you are interested in interviewing to become a Stephen Minister. Once
selected as a candidate, your 50 hour training will commence. We’ll offer two session in
2016, one running April through June, and a second running in September through November. Pastor Paige and I will provide that training and ongoing support for your caring
relationship through a precisely formulated program that has been successful in congregations in Orange County and across the country for over 30 years. If your calling lies elsewhere, please consider praying
for our Stephen Ministry, Pastor Paige and myself as leaders and our first class of Stephen Ministers.
Questions? Stephen Ministry leader Barb Doherty will be available on the Patio after the 9:30 serve each Sunday in
March and can always be reached at doherty.barb@gmail.com.
Application: http://uumcirvine.org/ministries/stephen-ministry
Prayers
For the peace of Christ in the midst of grief, we pray for:
The family and friends of Pauline Hall.
The family and friends of Patti Ferguson, sister-in-law of Stacy
Ferguson.
Jack and Kay Lucas at the loss of Jack’s aunt.
Dear Friends,
Thank you so much for all your payers
and all the ways you showed your love
and support at the loss of our grandson.
You brought light into a very dark time
for our family.
Bill and Bonnie Wright
John and Trish Young at the loss of John’s cousin, Leonard
Pomphrey.
We pray for those recovering from illness, injury, or surgery:
Ann Ownbey, Paul Arthur, Thelma Friedel, Barbara Albers,
Carol Gauger, Joy Corkery’s grandson Daniel
We pray for those who are keeping vigil with dying
family members:
Marge & Larry Anderson, Brad & Roxane Fowler
And for our homebound members:
Carol Moore, Diane Monjay, Mary Poehler, Paul Black,
Betty Quilligan, Barbara Albers, Anne Ramsey
Contribute to University
United Methodist Church
http://uumcirvine.org/give
Believe-Ministries that educate, equip and inspire us as passionate followers of Jesus Christ
Special Speaker on Sunday March 6th
Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater was ordained as a rabbi in 1999, and has served three different
congregations. Starting as a Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in Manhattan from 1998-2000, he then served as the rabbi of Congregation Ahavah Israel in Kingston, NY from 2000-2003. From 2003-2015, Rabbi Grater was the senior rabbi of
Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center. He now runs Grater & Company, which offers personal
and creative life-cycle ritual events for Jewish families. Rabbi Joshua and Pastor Paige are
friends through their interfaith advocacy work, especially that of the Abrahamic Faiths
Peacemaking Initiative.
Rabbi Grater is also a percussionist. He is a lover of music, hiking, family, reading, and riding his motorcycle. He lives in
Pasadena with his wife, Franci, and his teenage twins.
Operations
...
Be Love-Ministries that send us out to serve in Irvine, Orange County, and to the ends of the earth
Mission Trip Opportunity: We will be taking a team to Napa to help repair
homes damaged in the August 2014 earthquake on May 22nd-28th. All are
invited to go! If you are interested please contact Sue Harriss
(slharriss@cox.net).
M&M Fundraiser: This mission trip fundraiser will start on Sunday, March 6th.
M&M tubes will be handed out after worship. On the following two Sundays we
hope that you will return the empty M&M tubes with a donation of quarter,
cash, or checks. We will be raising fund to support the Napa Valley Mission trip.
There is also the potential for a mission trip to Belize in the fall to help with the
continued construction of a Methodist high school.
We Need Your Help with Preparing Sack Lunches!
We need volunteers to help us prepare sack lunches for our homeless neighbors on Friday March 18 at 4:30p in the
Fellowship Hall. It takes less than an hour to make 200 lunches with many helping hands doing the work. It is fun too!!
These lunches will go to the Family Shelter hosted by the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana.
Here are some photos our last sack lunch preparation event.
Concern America’s Walk Out of Poverty
On behalf of UUMC, join Michael Gilbert and Susan McClintic in Concern America’s Walk Out of Poverty. You’ll remember that we were introduced to Concern America during our International Food and Fun Festival, when Executive Director John Straw spoke in worship. We were able to give the organization $2000 for their ongoing work. The event is on
April 9th at 7am in Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley. More information can be found on
www.concernamerica.org. The organization supports the education of health promoters in underserved areas such as
Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Mozambique.
EL NINO PHOTO DAY EL NINO, MEXICO
You are invited to help the children of this community by taking
their photos, measuring their shoe sizes, recording information,
translating Spanish, and sponsoring them. If you would like to
participate meet at Irvine Presbyterian Church on March 19th at
7AM. Contact Jeffrey for more information! jkuru05@gmail.com
Believe-Children and Family Ministries
Appearing at Kid Jam
March 6th: Joan and The Caterpillars
March 13th: Captain Nate
March 20th: Noiseful Joy singing in Worship
March 27th: Easter crafts and fun!!
Child Behavior Pathways
March 24th
April 14th through June 9th, 6-8pm
We are hosting classes for parents of children ages 3 to 5 focused on helping parents manage their children’s behavior.
This course is offered in conjunction with the University of California Irvine and he Children’s Hospital of Orange County. The courses include techniques to increase positive parent-child interactions, tools for responding to attention
seeking behaviors, and approaches for preventing disruptive behaviors. Enroll at www.childbehaviorpathways.com.
Safe Sanctuaries Training
We are offering two opportunities for all our volunteers to be training through the Safe Sanctuaries program. We especially encourage all our volunteers who work with children and youth to attend. The first training will be on Tuesday
March 15th at 2pm in Room D in the Education Building. The second opportunity for training will be on Sunday March
20th at 11am in Room D of the Ed Building. Thank you to Don Dressler who will leading us in this
important training.
Registration for Vacation Bible School is now
available online!
http://uumcirvine.org/events/vacation-bible-
18422 Culver Dr
Irvine, CA 92612
Worship With Us!
Sunday mornings at 9:30 in the Sanctuary (English language)
Sunday mornings at 9:30 in the Fellowship Hall (Korean language)
Sunday Afternoons at 1:00 in Ed-A (Japanese language)